Game apparatus



(No Model.) 2Sheets-'Sheet 1.

' J. A. RAND.

GAME APPARATUS.

No. 420,959. Patented Feb. 11, 1890'.

In I

Fig. l

WITNESSES- INVEN TUR- N PETERS. Photo-Lithographer. wlmin mm n. c

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J.A.RA1 ID. GAME APPARATUS.

Patentedl 1890.

WITNESSES- m Tfiiil UNITED STATES ATENT FFICE.

JOSEPH A. RAND, OF NEVVBURYPORT, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO IRVIN BESSE AND HENRY T. MOODY, OF SAME PLACE.

GAME APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 420,959, dated February 11 1890.

Application filed March 14, 1889.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOSEPH A. RAND, of Newburyport, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, a citizen of the United States, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Game Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in explaining its nature.

The invention relates to the portable folding alley and box for holding the same, herein specified.

In the drawings I have represented the invention as used for playing ten-pins and for bagatelle.

Figure 1 represents the arrangement of the invention for the game of ten-pins, and Fig. 2 the arrangement for bagatelle. In both views the alley or ballway is represented as unfolded, or in position for playing the game. Fig. 3 represents the head piece or part employed in playing bagatelle. Fig. 4 represents the folded alley or ballway in its holding-box, with the bagatelle head-piece in place thereon. Fig. 5 is a section thereof. Fig. 6 is a view of the folded alley in the box, with the ten-pins and balls also contained therein. Fig. 7 is a sectional view thereof. Figs. 8, 9, and 10 illustrate a device for shooting or im pelling the balls over the alley. Figs. 11 and 12 are detail views in section, representing the manner of connecting sections of the alley. Fig. 13 is a View in perspective of the head-piece, box, and unfolded alley.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the head piece or board, which in Fig. 1 is preferably the bottom of the box B, the box having a Wall E), inclosing the head-board, preferably on all sides excepting Where connection is made with the folding alley at b, where it is cutaway.

G is the folding alley. It is made of any number of sections 0, each of which is of a length to be contained in the box B, preferably between the front and rear walls thereof. These sections 0 of the alley or ballway preferably are made of thin wood or pasteboard, although I do not confine myself to these materials, and each section is jointed or connected with the section next in order in Serial No. 303,221. (No model.)

a manner to permit them to be folded one upon the otherin the box B, or to the position represented in Figs. 4 and 6 and 5 and 7. In Fig. 1 this folding alley is also connected directly with the head board or piece .A, and I prefer this form of construction, although it is not essential. I have represented the joints as formed by means of thin connecting sections or hinges c, which are alternately applied to the under and upper surfaces of thesection c; and I prefer that each of the sections 0 be of the same thickness, and that there be formed in one or both edges thereof a shallow gutter or longitudinal recess 0 to act as guides or passages for returning the balls to the head of the alley, as well as to hold them at the head of the alley, and to prevent to some degree their leaving the alley. The outermost section of the alley preferably has a portion of its upper surface made of fibrous material I like felt or cloth-for the purpose of affording a ball-rest c of a nature sufficiently frictional to hold the ball or prevent it from rolling from the position in which it is placed. The wall of the box B opposite the opening may be lined or covered with a cushion 0 in order that the balls may strike against something dead and'not rebound, and this cushion may be extended about the side walls, if desired.

In Fig. 1, D represents the ten-pins in position for playing the game.

In Fig. 3, E represents the head-board. This is not connected with the folding alley. It is of a size to fit within the box B, and it has the holes 6, preferably circular in shape, which are adapted to receive and hold the balls shot upon it, and as it is preferably raised or supported somewhat above the surface of the bottom of the box and of the alley it has the inclined connecting section or piece e hinged to it and extending, when in operating position, to the surface of the alley. (See Fig. 2.)

The boxB is made somewhat wider than the alley, in order that when the alley is folded therein there may still remain on each side'of the alley the spaces or cavities F, for holding the balls and ten-pins or other devices used in the game.

G represents the balls, and while they may be thrown or otherwise impelled along the alley from the head by hand I prefer to use a throwing or impelling instrument, and in Figs. 8, 9, and 10 1 have represented one. It comprises, essentially, asleeve II, having a closed end 7L, a hole h at the other end, a plunger or spindle 7L2, contained in the cavity of the sleeve, having a shoulder 7L3 about midway its length, a coil-spring h" about the section of the spindle at the rear of the shoulder, which surrounds the spindle, and is adapted to be compressed in the sleeve by the inward movement of the spindle, and a latch 7L adapted to engage latching-recesses 7L, formed in the forward end of the spindle. The spindle has a number of these latchingrecesses, as itis desirable to afford some means whereby its impellin force may be varied, and if the spring is compressed onlyto the first reeess of courseithas not the strength or impellin g force that it ishas when compressed sufficiently to bring the farther recesses in line with the latch. The latch is represented as comprising a solid plate 717, the sections 7&8 of which slide in recesses or grooves in the end of the instrument, and which carries thelatch proper ]L5. This slide-plate is moved transversely the length of the sleeve todisengage or engage a latch-recess, and it is always held in position to cause an engagement with a latch-recess by means of a spring 71 which is located between the plate 72 and the sleeve. (See Figs. 8, 9, and 10.) This plate h is somewhat wide and fiat and serves two purposes: first, as a thumb-piece in moving the slide -plate to disengage the latch from a latching-recess by hand, and, second, as a rest for the end of the instrument when it is desired to discharge it by simply moving it downward, in which event the ball to be propelled is placed upon the cushion or support 0 the instrument placed immediately behind it to rest upon the plate h and upon the downward movement of the forward end of the instrument the plunger or spindle is released and the ball propelled in any direction desired, according to the direction or angle which the sleeve bears to the alley. The recesses in the spindle or plunger preferably are annular, and they are also preferably square at their inner ends and inclined at their outer ends, so that the spindle can be moved inwardly against the latch or without lifting the latch excepting by means of the incline of the latch-recess.

The box 15 may serve as the packing-box in which the game is transported and sold, in which event there willbe only a cover necessary for use with it, or it may be placed in another somewhat larger box with a cover for transportation and sale.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States- 1. The improved article of manufacture comprising a head-piece surrounded in part by a wall, a folding alley or ballway of sections substantially the length of the headboard, but narrower than it, and adapted to be folded one upon the other thereon, where by the alley or ballwaywhen not in use can be compactly packed in small compass, and whereby one or more spaces on each side of the packed alley or hallway are provided for holding the ball or balls and other articles used for playing the game, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the box 13, having the sides I), the opening I), and the folding alley extending from said opening, with the supplemental piece or board E, made to fit within the box, having the holes 6, and the inclined alley-connecting section or piece 0, as and for the purposes described.

JOSEPH A. RAND.

\Vitnesses:

F. F. RAYMOND, 2d, J. M. DOLAN. 

